Missing
by Astral Fire-Bird
Summary: Dragonslayers are disappearing all over Fiore. Wendy's gone now, too, and Natsu's the only one who's still with Fairy Tail. Will he be caught, too? And what's going on with the whole "dragonslayer disappear" thing?
1. Chapter 1

"Wendy's gone."

Silence followed Carla's words. She was obviously trying her best not to burst out crying, her jaw trembling and eyes moist, not batting away Happy when he held her paw comfortingly. The truth was the she really needed some form of comfort, and she certainly didn't mind Happy's.

Lucy gripped her pen tightly. So Wendy was gone, too? That would make the third dragonslayer to suddenly disappear form Fairy Tail. Gajeel and Laxus had both disappeared sometime last week without a trace. Wendy had cried, saying that she couldn't follow their traces – they all ended up at their homes.

It was also all over the headlines on the newspapers: DRAGONSLAYERS GO MISSING. Sting and Rogue from Sabertooth had mysteriously vanished – along with some others that Lucy had never heard of.

That meant that Natsu was the only one left. Lucy tore her eyes away from Carla, who was now sobbing into Happy's shoulder, no doubt thinking that it was her fault Wendy was gone. But Lucy could not locate Natsu anywhere. A sudden bolt of panic surged through her. Was he gone? Did he disappear too? She couldn't bear the thought of her teammate just _gone, _and she got up quickly and ran out of the guild hall.

The first place she could think of where Natsu might be was his house. Her body was on autopilot, legs running as fast as they could to the house. What if he was gone too? There had to be a reason to why only dragon slayers were disappearing…

"NATSU!" Lucy screamed, and burst through the door. Said mage looked up from his bed in surprise. "Lucy?" he grumbled. "Whaddya doing?"

Seeing that he was safe and sound, she let out a sigh of relief, then placed her hands on her hips. "Why aren't you at the guild?" she snapped, annoyed that he made her worry so much.

"I was tired," was the simple reply, and Lucy sighed again, and grabbed his hand. "Let's go to the guild."

"Hey, wait, Lucy!" Natsu sputtered as he was practically dragged along the road by Lucy. "Why do I have to go to the guild right now?"

"Wendy disappeared."

There was silence, and Lucy did her best to ignore it, keeping a firm grip on Natsu's scarf. Then he spoke quietly,

"So I'm the last one, huh?"

Lucy scoffed. "You're strong. You can fight off lots of things. Besides, if you get taken by something, I'll be there with you." She chuckled to herself, thinking about how cheesy that sounded.

Natsu sighed and allowed himself to be dragged into the guild hall, flinching as the guild doors nearly bashed his head in two.

Lucy let go of Natsu, who plopped onto the floor with an, "oof!" and smiled weakly at the staring eyes of the guild. "He's safe, at least."

Makarov let out a sigh and stood up, leaning on his staff. "We'll be looking for Wendy," he said without confidence. "Erza, Carla, Freed, and Elfman, you may go search now." Erza nodded and barked for everyone to follow her, and they marched out of the hall.

"Gray, you go and stay with Natsu to make sure nothing happ-" he continued, but was interrupted by a loud,

"WHY HIM?"

"You copying me, Ice Princess?" Natsu roared, slamming his forehead against Gray's.

"No, I think you're the one who's a copying bastard, flame brain!"

"What was that, stripper?"

"Are you deaf, fire breath?

"ENOUGH!" Makarov roared, and the two immediately fell silent. The master rubbed his temples and sighed. He'd had a long week, trying to sort everything out, and even the smallest noises could set him off.

"You two are strong, and together you could fight off most powerful enemies." Makarov hopped off of the bar and began heading to his office. "I'm done speaking. Go and do whatever you need to."

Lucy sighed, sweatdropping a little. "I'm not sure putting Gray and Natsu together is the best idea…"

And she was so, so right.

* * *

"ARE YOU STUPID, FIRE IDIOT?"

"NO, BUT I'M SURE YOU ARE, YOU WALKING POPSICLE!"

"I SAID COLD CHICKEN FOR DINNER, SQUINTY EYES!"

"AND I SAID SPICY CHICKEN FOR DINNER, DROOPY EYES!"

"ARE YOU -" Gray's vehement retort was cut off when someone knocked on the door. Grumbling, Natsu opened it, poking his head out. He looked around but saw nothing until someone squeaked, "Could you possibly be Natsu-san?"

Looking down, Natsu saw a tiny boy with sandy hair and bright blue eyes, holding a letter out to the dragonslayer. The poor boy was dragging a blue mail bag that was almost his own size. Natsu nodded and took the mail, thanking the boy.

"Have a good day, Natsu-san!" the boy piped again, before happily skipping down the road, lugging his huge bag behind him.

Natsu closed the door and headed back to Gray while opening the letter.

"What's it say?" Gray asked, curious.

Natsu took the paper out. It only had a few sentences on it.

_Hey Natsu!_

_I hope you're safe! It's dangerous to be alone, so I'm inviting you to dinner! Meet me by the bookstore in a few minutes after you read this, please!_

_Love,_

_Lucy_

Gray wrinkled his nose. "I didn't know Lucy sent letters with love to you."

Natsu punched him. "It's not a love letter! Look, she's inviting us to dinner! I bet it's an all you can eat buffet! Now this is what I call awesome!"

"Wait, isn't the letter a little -" Gray began, but saw that Natsu had already run out the door. "That idiot," he sighed, and ran after him.

* * *

"Lucyyy!" Natsu called, finally arriving at the bookstore and out of breath. It was quite late at night, and most of the shops in Magnolia were closed, making the street seem very dark.

But Lucy wasn't there yet. Maybe she got delayed, he thought, and leaned against the glass window of the bookstore.

Gray wasn't there either. "The stripper can stay hungry then, for all I care," Natsu muttered to himself, and continued to wait.

Quite a long while later, when Natsu was getting tired of waiting, he spotted a dark figure walking towards him. Grinning broadly, Natsu ran forward. "Lucy! Finally! I was getting bored waiting for you! Gray's not -"

The figure stretched a hand out, and a dark magic seal formed, glowing. Natsu skidded to a halt, confused. This wasn't Lucy.

The next thing he knew, he was sinking into a blissfully comfortable darkness.

* * *

**Review? Crit? Fave? Follow?**

**I'd love any of those. Thanks for reading!**

**Just a warning, this is not a romance story, so major pairings are not in here! I also will not update a lot!**


	2. Chapter 2

**This is probably going to be a short chapter. I'm near Writer's Block territory…most likely because I'm just not in the mood to write after taking a science test. I feel like all the knowledge in me was just sucked up and gone.**

* * *

A little girl's ragged scream tore through the air. It was cut off abruptly, and the room lapsed into eerie silence.

Then quite suddenly,

"What the hell did you do to her, you bastard?" Gajeel roared, straining so much against the metal cuffs that his skin rubbed raw. It didn't make sense. He was the iron dragonslayer – iron was how he got through every battle. It shouldn't hurt him, and he should definitely be able to eat it.

But why wasn't it working?

A lacriyma (A/N: Did I spell that right?) powered computer sat on a table nearby in the dull, depressing room. A worn leather swivel chair in front of it squeaked and groaned as it spun around, revealing a small, smiling bluenette, seemingly around the age of sixteen or so, judging by her size. Gajeel tried not to think about how much she resembled his Shrimp.

The girl leaned forward, and Gajeel noticed the straps binding her to the chair. He stared at them in amazement – why was she, a member of this mysterious organization, restrained at her work?

The bluenette ignored his starring and clasped her hands together, dropping her chin onto them. "I'm doing the same thing to you, Gajeel-chan," she sang. Gajeel scowled angrily at her. Not only did she look like Shrimp, but she sounded like her, too.

The girl wheeled herself over to Wendy, who was down on a steel table, unusually pale. A black band with a wire that resembled the S.E. plug on vehicles was on her limp arm. The girl unstrapped her from it, still smiling and humming lightly to herself. It wasn't a tune Gajeel had ever heard of before, but it sounded sweet, happy, and enjoyable until the mood suddenly darkened, then changed again. The iron dragonslayer shook his head and let out a tiny sigh. Music was confusing – he never understood much of it.

"Looks like Wendy-chan will be out for a while," she chirped, grabbing the little girl and dropping her onto a floor mat. "I guess I shouldn't have extracted the magic so quickly with her…But now, it's your turn, Gajeel-chan!" The girl smiled and swiveled around to face Gajeel.

He'd never actually admit it, but deep inside, Gajeel was afraid the machine – an S.E. plug connecting to a swelling lacriyma, filled with the dragonslayers' magical power.

He couldn't let Wendy get hurt. When he'd refused before, those people of this organization threatened him. "We'll kill the little girl," they'd said.

The S.E. band was clipped to his arm, and he felt the same surge of nausea he got whenever he was on a moving vehicle. Grimacing in pain, he clutched his wrist, feeling the magic power slowly ebb out of him. The lacriyma crackled behind him.

"What are you going to get out of all this? Why did you just get us?" Gajeel slowly looked up at the bluenette, who smiled ever so brightly back at him.

"Oh, Gajeel-chan. Don't worry. We didn't hurt anyone you love back at your precious Fairy Tail. We'll release you when we get Salamander-chan." She giggled, even though these was nothing funny about it. "We need all of Salamander-chan's magic, and that'll be enough. I heard he'd released so much power in serious battles, ate Etherion, obtained 'Lightning Fire Dragon' mode or something like that, and unlocked Dragon Force!" The girl bounced excitedly in her seat.

"And what we'll get out of this…Gajeel-chan, the world will be at peace when they have Silver Hope watching over them. It's my guild! We'll keep peace over the world with our power, and make sure no more rivalry spreads…imagine it…a word of peace!" The girl spread her arms, a dreamy expression on her face.

As she wheeled herself back to the computer, she called out to Gajeel, "And we heard dragonslayers have a lot of magical power. You all help us a lot…Oh, look! They've captured Salamander-chan! He'll be joining us soon! Yay!" she squeaked happily, and Gajeel heard furious typing.

"Damn…you idiotic Salamander…" he hissed quietly before passing out.

* * *

**How do I spell it? D:**


	3. Chapter 3

Yet another day had come and gone. Fairy Tail was no closer to finding their missing comrades than touching the stars.

Lucy refused to give up, though, and she held her head high while walking past the waterway in front of her home.

It was sweltering hot that day. When Lucy tried to wipe the sweat off, more perspiration formed, and she gave up, letting it trickle down the side of her face. Unconsciously wiping her head again, she glanced at the waterway.

The two men in the boat weren't there. _They must be enjoying a day off indoors_, Lucy thought miserably. The rushing water looked cool and tempting to jump in for a swim, but she tore herself away and into her house for a shower.

It was always hot in Magnolia during the summer, Lucy thought, closing the door behind her and taking in a deep breath.

Summer.

Natsu.

_Even if it takes a lifetime, I'll find you, Natsu._

* * *

"Natsu-chan!"

The cheery, carefree voice sent shivers up the dragonslayer's spine. He tried to rip his terrified gaze away from the wide, chocolate brown eyes. They twinkled rather tauntingly at him.

A girl, blonde hair pulled up in a side ponytail and strapped down to a large leather chair, was grinning at Natsu. It struck him suddenly how much this girl resembled Lucy – the hair, eyes, and smile where all so much like her.

Natsu would've snapped those chains around his wrists such a long time ago, if only it didn't seal all of the bearer's magic. They were heavy and uncomfortable, and Natsu shifted away from the Lucy look-alike uncomfortably.

"Oh, come on, Natsu—chan, it's your turn!" A warm hand took hold of his wrist and dragged him over to the giant lacrima (A/N: This was the wiki's spelling). Natsu winced but didn't protest as the girl clamped the S.E. plug on his arm. They – these strange people who had kidnapped all of them for no reason (as far as he knew) – had threatened to go and kill his entire guild. Seeing as how easily they'd been taken, Natsu decided to just grit his teeth and bear through it.

The lacrima suddenly buzzed, and the fire dragonslayer groaned and clutched at his head. It felt horrible to have almost all of your magic power taken at once, the feeling close to that of when he was on transportation.

His vision was getting blurry. Natsu rubbed his eyes furiously and saw, on the other side of the room, piled in a corner…

Sting, Rogue, Wendy, Gajeel, and a few other people, most definitely mages, that Natsu did not recognize. They were all deathly pale and motionless. Alarmed, Natsu tried to get up and rush over, but he felt a hand on his arm.

The girl was watching him with a happy smile. "Natsu-chan, don't go anywhere! The magic extraction is still incomplete!"

"What the hell did you do to them?" He yelled, yanking his arm out of her reach. Natsu had almost called her a bastard, but it was almost like calling Lucy a bastard. He just couldn't bring himself to do it.

The girl blinked and drew her hand back, but she was still smiling as if she were a little kid at their first birthday party. "They're just regenerating magic," she plucked at her nails absentmindedly. "After you're done, they should be able to get up. Isn't that great, Natsu-chan?"

He was already toppling over. A rose of rage seemed to bloom suddenly in his heart, thorns pricking him angrily. _But that's not important_, he thought woozily. What _was_ important was the fact that someone was watching him as his world turned dark…

Lucy.

* * *

**Uwahh! It's so bad! I'm just not in THAT mood, if you know what I mean! Please excuse this horrible chapter, it didn't come out as well as I wanted it to! (and it was mostly just an alert to tell everyone that I'm not quitting this)**

**Thank you, everyone, so much for the favorites, follows, and reviews! You have no idea how happy I am when I get an alert! Thank you, thank you!**


	4. Chapter 4

Stress. That was all Lucy's past few days had been.

Wake up, eat, head to the guild, spend the entire day poring over books, go home, sleep.

She didn't even realize that her rent was due that weekend until it was almost too late.

I don't have time to go on a job! Lucy wanted to scream, but she couldn't because life was always unfair no matter what she did. She didn't want to borrow money from anyone - she'd have to pay it back double, most likely.

And so there Lucy was, living in Natsu's house. It was still a pigsty, and the blonde-haired mage immediately set to work cleaning, pushing down saddening thoughts. Where'd Natsu, Wendy, and Gajeel go?

Gray had reported being knocked out - he was clearly frustrated that he couldn't do anything for his friend and rival. Lucy had tried to tell him that it wasn't his fault, but he'd stormed out of the guild hall.

What was even more shocking was the fact that Natsu was tricked by a forged letter. A forged letter of her writing! Lucy couldn't get over the fact that someone had dared pretend to be her.

And why did Natsu have to diappear like the others? He, Wendy, and Gajeel were all gone now, with no traces left behind. Laxus was still there, but he couldn't sniff out anything - Natsu had simply disappeared into thin air.

Lucy sighed as she scrubbed the side of the old wooden desk with a ragged sponge, watching the water and soap suds leave dark stains in the wood, then fade out. Grabbing a cloth, Lucy began to dust the top of the desk of the desk off when she spotted something interesting.

On Natsu's desk sat a small, wooden picture frame. The picture inside was slightly blurry, and the people in it were small, as if the picture had been taken from far away.

Upon closer inspection, Lucy realized that one of the people were circled, with a messy scrawl underneath.

_"__New member, Luigi"_

Normally Lucy would've fumed, but this time she simply laughed, so hard that tears sprung to her eyes, and the next thing she knew, she was crying. It wasn't unhappily or happily - it was just something to let the stress and fear trickle out slowly with her tears.

The note continued;

_"__Luigi is really weird, but she's also nice. She reminds me of Lisanna."_

Lucy took the picture and polished it needlessly, for it was already quite clean. She smiled sadly down at the picture, smiling sadly at the people in it. Then she carefully placed the frame back on the desk and walked out the door.

* * *

**Extremely short, sorry, I just...wanted to tell you guys that I'm not dead, neither is this story, and it shall continue.**

**Thank you so much for the reviews, follows, and favorites (and those who stick through my late updates :))! They're greatly appreciated!**


	5. Chapter 5

"Lu-chan, I think we've got a lead!"

The blonde girl immediately shot up at her friend's words, rushing over to where Levy was poring over a book. Her hands were shaking a bit.

"What? Where?" Lucy rubbed her eyes furiously as she stared at the page, but her tired mind could not seem to process everything correctly. She hadn't gotten much sleep over the past week, and she usually fell asleep on the bar at the guild.

"There's an independent guild called Demon's Chronicles. They've been in action ever since the ages when Zeref was very active! A-and that's not all! They're rumored to be working on a project they claim to be the hope of humanity!"

Lucy was trying to process all of the new information, squinting her eyes at the page. It was obviously a very old book - pages yellowed and torn, splashes here and there, and it was giving off a strong smell of cats. The words were tiny and smudged together - if Lucy didn't read at all, she wouldn't have been able to read it.

"What about this hope of humanity?" She questioned the small bluenette, who adjusted her wind reading glasses, a look of grim seriousness on her face.

"It needs to have a lot of magic power...and they don't sound very nice...I don't think they would mind it if one or two people died for the sake of it…" Her voice quivered, and tears threatened to spill out. "And dragon slayers do have a very, very large amount of magical energy. I bet that's what they're using them for."

Gray suddenly slid up next to them, eyes narrowed as he slammed his fist down on the wooden table, making the two girls jump.

"Flame-brain's such an idiot," he snarled. "Letting himself get caught so easily...and becoming some guild's guinea pig. Same goes for Gajeel."

"It's not manly," Elfman supplied from the next table.

"Elf-nii, if it were a weak opponent, I doubt Natsu would've lost," Lisanna frowned, taking a sip from her mug.

"Then shall we go look for this guild?" Erza folded her arms across her chest as she swiveled around on her barstool.

Levy chuckled nervously. "Uh...we would need to find the traces of magic...then track that...and…"

"I'll help in any way I can," Lucy shot up immediately, suddenly fully awake and pumped to get going. "I'll work 'til I fall asleep!"

"You won't have to do that, Lucy!" Happy flew into the air, suddenly looking cheerful. "I'll work hard, too!" He looked exuberant at the idea of seeing his best friend again.

Levy smiled weakly. "Yeah...I hope to see Gajeel again. Not because I'm worried or anything!" She shouted, flustered, as several people smirked at her.

"I guess we'll start where the note said to go. We'll do this somehow!" Erza barked, and earned several "Aye, sir"s back. She stood up and began to march out of the guild, a steady stream of volunteers to search behind her.

Lucy knew that it would probably still be a while, but it was nice to think that she could see him again.

Very nice.

* * *

The chilly night breeze felt like a slap on his cheek, leaving the skin stinging. He clutched the gash, letting out a gasp of surprise, then continued to lug the two motionless figures forward.

He could see the distant, flickering lights of the town far ahead. _I'm close_, he reminded himself. _I'm close, and when I get back, I'm eating everything in sight._

And maybe he could see her again. He tugged on their clothes, inching forward again.

And then he would kick those bastards' asses, send them crying and running, and his life would go back to normal again - missions, eat, sleep. Over and over. It was a pretty simple life, but he liked it.

He didn't remember where he came from though. It was something they did, he was sure, that erased all of his memories of that place. He could still remember the painful wristband that bit deeply into his skin, the tugging feeling in his gut.

Oh, how he wanted revenge for them disrupting his daily life cycle.

His vision was blurring - either from tears, sweat, or exhaustion, he couldn't tell. But he knew that he had to get closer. He was only a few lengths away from his home! He could do it, and he would see her again!

But his knees gave out under him. The last thing he saw was the beautiful, azure to a deep violet night sky that stretched above him, twinkling teasingly like the shine in her eyes.

Gajeel fell into the welcoming darkness.

* * *

"Um...um...I think I feel a trace here!"

Lucy was so caught up in her work that she almost didn't hear the blue cat's words. Whirling around, she crossed over to where he was standing, and sure enough, there was an ugly, dirty feel. It was hard to explain, but it felt as if something were crushing her heart.

"Levy-chan! Freed!" Lucy waved over to the two mages, and they ran over. "Happy's picked up a spot."

Freed formed a circle of runes around the spot, and he nodded. "I think I can convert this with Levy's help. We should be able to make something close to a teleporter to the location, if we can use the script…"

Levy had already set to work, eyes narrowed as she began to write on a notepad, letters tiny and neat. Her pen bled out freely, making smooth, straight lines on the paper. Freed crouched down beside her and pulled out his sword.

Lucy had a smile on her face as she and Happy watched the two work. She had a feeling that this would end wonderfully, and nothing could crush her feeling of happiness.

* * *

**I'm not sure how the magic works, exactly, so...forgive if I make up some stuff.**

**Sorry for the late updates, I'll try to make chapters longer! I'll devour all reviews, faves, and follows! Thank you for reading!**


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